The Dreaded Clash
by G. Sun
Summary: Our two preteens finally make their clash on an early day of Spring. Mia's not feeling all too confident with her own abilities to handle Seth meanwhile he can't wait to take her out once and for all-one of them will walk out and the other will kept in a painful slumber. Read after THE THIEF OF HEARTS
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everybody enjoy!**

Whatever "message" that was in that fire really spooked Risa. After we came back she seemed shaken up and more silent than usual when we told Erick about what happened. Speaking of him, he was furious at us for sneaking off and disobeying him but he calmed down and gave us our pay and a day off, how nice of him. Deidra and that stranger in the helmet exhausted us terribly, I'm thankful for the day off. I walk over to the window and open it generously, getting the cool spring air in here. I lie down on the couch and study the chandelier high above me. Whoever furnished this house has some taste in style. "Sleeping on the job Mia?" the familiar voice makes my nerves jolt. Abruptly I sit up, greeted by Seth sitting on the coffee table casually. "You should always be on your guard."

"Seth? How did you-when-?" I turn to the door, closed and locked securely. My heart pounds erratically, not in the good way either. "The window," he points to it, making me realize it's opened ajar. He looks just as he did when he abandoned me here-time has done nothing to him but so much to me. How did that happen? "Let's meet by the hill in the park where I left you, we can talk things out there. It'll be like old times when we sat on the beach, wouldn't you like that?" I squeeze my knees as I process Seth's sudden presence here. "Why?"

"You and I both know. So are you coming to hill to meet me?"

"Umm, y-yes."

"Good. Now stay still and don't get up from the couch. I want to test something out," he pulls a switchblade from his pocket and gets off of the coffee table to lean on the couch, attempting to press the blade into my cheek. I've got to get out of here while I still can! When I slip off the couch and head for the invisible bo staff leaning by the door, he snatches my wrist. I turn around and his handsome face turns into Deidra's hideous head from six days ago. "I told you not to get up from the couch," hisses Seth sinisterly.

My eyes open and Seth's gone, replaced with the enticing chandelier over the staircase. Slowly I sit up and search the entire living room for Seth but he's clearly not here. It was all a nasty dream-but is there something imperative about returning to that park? Even if it was nothing but a scary dream, I still have unresolved issues with Seth I should get off my chest and the only way to do that is to go to where he and I last saw each other-I'm not going to run into him. He went to another world, far away and unreachable.

The sunset was beautiful here, I was too sad to pay much attention to it when Seth left me. There are flowers here in bloom unlike when I was last here. You're not here to look at the pretty flowers Mia, you're here to get Seth off your mind, hopefully for forever. "Seth whatever I did to you, I'm so sorry. I don't know why you hate me but what I do know is that when the time comes I'll-I'll be ready for you," I whisper aloud as I shuffle my feet atop the hill. There, that was good right? My chest feels so much lighter or it's because my breasts finally stopped hurting this morning. Puberty is painful, it's only a matter of time until I get my period and my birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks and I'm still here in Westopolis. Why can't I get home yet? A grape-colored sphere floats down from the sky-a floater in my eye probably; I rub my eyes and then stand agape in what used to be the pleasant park environment with a lonely hill with awful memories. It's now a blue-grey void containing only me in it. When I walk forward, my footsteps don't make a single sound. "Hello?" What happened to the park? The all-too familiar voice sends fear trickling down my spine, "It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

To my right, Seth is standing there, barely recognizable. His pale brown, almost cream hair is now a ruddy brown and shorter than before-he also cut his bangs. There are some hairs sprouting from above his lip and he's growing sideburns. His Moonlight Town attire has been cast away, replaced with a zippered black V-neck shirt and purple, baggy denim capris. "You've changed," I observe thoughtfully, not knowing what else to say about his appearance. "So did you," states Seth, his voice deeper than before. His hair still looks soft and manageable but other than that he looks as though he hasn't slept in ages. "Do you remember what I promised you before I left?"

"Of course I do-but-?"

"I hate you Mia, there's nothing more to it."

"What did I do?"

"That doesn't matter now does it? It ends here Mia," a purple mist collects in his right hand and a black sword that looks like a skeleton key forms. I'm still recovering from his upsetting reply-_I hate you, _as if our friendship in Moonlight Town meant nothing to him for an entire year. "Seth we don't have to do this," I hold my hands up, anxiously staring at the scary-looking weapon, which makes him snort. "Whatever I did to you is in the past isn't it? Is this about not taking your hand at Moonlight Town."

"I told you to be ready for when this would happen. Now it's going to happen," he takes the first swing before I can pull out my bo staff. I duck and use the three second break to take my wood-coated staff out and back away from him. With a furious grunt he brings the key-shaped blade over his head, striking downward but I block him well enough for me to talk to him. "Who did this to you Seth? This isn't you!"

"It is me whether you like it or not." He jumps back and shoots Dark wisps into the air from his giant key. They hang in the air like ornaments on a tree and then one at a time launch themselves with annoying buzzing noises. I manage to dodge three of them but the last two I have to raise my bo staff for and they shroud me in violet Darkness on impact and smell like something charred. In the smoke, Seth's silhouette rushes through and I'm lucky to be holding my staff at the right moment. "You can't block everything forever Mia. That's so like you."

"You're wrong about that-"

"Then hit me with your best shot or do you still think I'm under a witch's spell?" his strength overpowers mine and I end up on the unnatural ground as he repeatedly strikes me. I raise my arms to block his fast movements, merely turning the staff to block the different angles he's coming at. Some of his sweat drips onto my face as I lay here truly terrified of his scrunched up, vengeful countenance.

"You're my friend Seth and whatever you're going through-nngh! I'm going to try to help you get through it because-aagh, that's what friends do for each other," I yell sincerely while being bombarded with Seth's relentless assaults. "Just talk to me Seth."

"Get up and fight," growls Seth, stopping his attack to rudely snatch the bo staff and pull me up so that he can head butt me back down again. I moan and whimper, holding my head with my left hand, only letting my eyes get watery when I turn away from him. My head throbs every second, I don't think I can keep this going anymore. This is just like what happened with Deidra. I can start to see blackness from the corner of my eye starting to take over me. Can I still call Seth-this, this person my friend? All he's done is hurt me and bring me down, literally and figuratively speaking. Even when he was in Metropolis with me, he wasn't supportive of me trying to get home. Oh I'm so stupid, why didn't I see it before? He wanted to do his own thing and go see the worlds when all I wanted to do was go home; I kept thinking that all this time that he and I shared the same dream. Why did I let myself get fooled by him, because I thought he wanted to share his life with me?

"Let me out!" a girl's voice echoes in my ear. Who was that, that wasn't me. Now I'm hearing voices, great.

"So you're going to make your death an easy one? That's so like you-" mentions Seth as he looms over me.

"Seth," I curl up in a fetus position, not looking at him. But in my peripheral vision, his key-shaped sword is pointed right at my head and his expression is as hard as steel, his eyebrows steepened. "Are we still friends?"

"Mia I don't understand how stupid you can be. Are you that blind to what's in front of you? I didn't think you lived in a fantasy world of your own-by now I would have thought-" he stops himself to chuckle at how "ignorant" I am "-no who am I kidding? This is the same girl who believes in kélora fruits, right?"

"_Are we still friends?_" I repeat, restraining my anger in a cross tone.

"Come on you already know the answer to that, I refuse to believe you're _that naïve_," he snorts, pushing the sharp tip into my cheek.

"I'm so sorry Seth," I cry out as I turn away from the painful tip, groaning in agony still as I stifle my tears. Seth is losing himself in the Darkness, and I can't let that happen. "I haven't given up on you Seth." My nose tickles and I clench my fists as he continues to dig into my cheek. He already left me and now that he's right here, I'm not going to lose him again-I can't let him go, even if I have to bring him back to Moonlight Town kicking and screaming. I am the light in his darkness.

J.G.P.


	2. Chapter 2

Seth is coming back with me, I know he won't like it but it's the only way to get rid of the Darkness that's keeping him away from me. Gripping the bo staff, I slam the sword away from my face. One leg at a time I bring myself to my feet and frown sadly at him, my tears still trapped in my eyes; I whisper "sorry" as I swing my weapon at him. "It's about time Mia!" he exclaims joyfully as he steps back. Running towards him, I brandish the staff until it meets with his black key sword and I hear a girl's voice scream again.

"Heeeeelp!" I disregard the voice again, it's probably Seth trying to distract me somehow. Our weapons repeatedly clash again except this time I'm attacking him with everything I've got. I hear him grunt a few times as he blocks some of my assaults and I get a clean hit in on his shoulder. Seth I'm sorry that I have to do this to you. An upward thrust at his chin sends him back a few feet and I channel my Light to the bow, coating it in blinding cyan light. The cyan flashes every time it meets Seth's key sword; frustrated, he pushes into me and abruptly flips over me and sends more flames of Darkness towards me. I hit each of them and none of them explode in my face like the other time; I spin the staff with both hands over my head and toss it towards him. Like broken off helicopter blades it rotates towards Seth as he lands from his frontflip, coming in too fast for him to dodge and directly pummels him in the back. I wince at his strained groan as my weapon's Light fades away and returns back to my hand. Seth drops on one knee, supporting himself with the dark key sword that looks like a toy in his big hands. Just watching him suffer makes my heart sink, I can't just let him leave again, that's all. I walk up behind him and he pants profusely. "Now are you going to let me help you?" I ask sternly.

"Do you still think…you can…save me?" asks Seth exasperatedly and exhaustedly.

"Why do you keep thinking you're beyond being saved?" I inquire genuinely and leniently. Whenever I'm near Seth I just can't sound harsh and stern for long, I wonder how Risa does it all the time. Then I realize that there's warm blood dripping from my right cheek-probably from when Seth had me pinned on the ground-and I wipe it off. "Why won't you let me?"

"What if I don't want to be helped?" he lifts his greasy face and turns his head slightly. "What if I like the power that I was given?"

"_Given?_ That means somebody _is_ baiting you!" I realize aloud and bring my attention back to Seth. "Who's giving you this horrible power?" For some reason the question creates a purple aura around his clenched fist and his sword hand. He furiously growls as he gets up and launches an all-out assault on me again except this time his combos are quicker than Deidra's. I have trouble avoiding some of his brandishes but nonetheless I don't get that much hurt until he leaps in the air and plunges the sword in the soundless ground. As if being infected by the black sword, liquid Darkness permeates all of the ground, not leaving a trace of color. My fingers tighten around my bo staff and I bring it closer to my chest as I watch Seth sink into the Darkened ground. I listen for any sound in this blue-grey void besides my huffing and puffing and only hear a girl's soft voice.

_"I do." _This voice was different from the one I've been hearing during this fight but terrifies me nonetheless. That voice-was my own but I haven't opened my mouth to say a word. How could Seth imitate me so perfectly? "_I'm going to make sure you're safe as long as you're with me." _My throat tightens as Seth's long-gone gentle tone makes me feel weak in the knees. I remember that day, the day before everything good was taken from me. Something heavy crashes into me and Seth's hands wrap around my neck. He slams my head into the black ground until his last slam has me stuck in the liquid Darkness. While stuck in the muddy, suffocating Darkness, I kick and thrash until he takes his hands off me. I grunt as I yank my head out of the Darkness and whip my head around. "Seth? Where are you?"

_"I'm really scared, we can wait until we're older to do this,"_ my scared voice replies from months ago. Everything has changed so much since then. I'm stronger, smarter, a little taller and more mature than before. Something glows under me, making me lower my head.

"Seth-gaah!" I jump out of the Dark fire spout that jutted out beneath my feet. A bright purple shines under my feet again and I run out of the way, fire spouts following my footsteps and getting closer to me with each step. But they won't reach me, I'm too fast for any of them. "Cut it out Seth." In front of me a large spout erupts from the permeated ground like a geyser, shaking everything turbulently. Keeping my balance, I stop just in time and change my running direction. Another eruption stops me in my tracks and almost singes my bangs-it came that close. The next batch of flames comes close enough to kiss my nose. "Seth stop hiding in the shadows and-and face me like a real man you're supposed to be!" That was bold even for me, that Mizuki's rubbing off of me. Then my face meets the black, cold ground and the back of my head aches as badly as the front does.

* * *

From the ground I rise up and the void battlefield vanishes like smoke. The newly crafted Keyblade of People's Hearts appears in my hand again as I step behind Mia. She didn't change much from before, Master was right about assumption. You know what you're here for Seth, get the job over with before old frivolous feelings reawaken. The afternoon breeze that smells like Moonlight Beach-not that musty, pungent factory scent-hits me from behind as if trying to protect Mia from her inevitable fate. I raise the Keyblade with both hands on the hilt over her back and shut my eyes. But when I reopen them, my hands are locked in the same position. I growl as I try to force my hands to come down-come on, Nate did it without a problem. But he didn't know Mia like I did, to him she was a toy-_what am I to her?_ No, not her friend, anything but that. Why is this so hard just get it over with! At some point my hands _have _to come down and the Keyblade will just end up in Mia. After a minute passes and she's still breathing, I drop to my knees and furiously cry out, turning around and throwing the Keyblade on the grass. Of course I can't do it-it's Mia, the same Mia who helped me when nobody else did, the same Mia who was always worried about me, the same Mia who hates violence and hurting anything, the same Mia who believes in myths about kélora fruits. "I can't do this yet," I ultimately decide as I dig my fingers into my hair frantically. It's far too late to take back all the things I said to her-if only I was a Heartless, I wouldn't have to feel this way. I turn around and look for a good spot to hide as I teleport home. Over there, that's a good spot.

* * *

Who was the boy that just dashed behind that tree? If it's another Nate I'm going to kill him where he stands. I glance at the blinking red dot on my watch and while walking I almost trip over something. What a surprise, I thought I would catch her alive and well but she looks dead here. I bend down to check her pulse and there's a weak one fortunately; I use my thumb to poke her blood-stained cheek, still wet. Her face is also sweaty beyond belief and her head's swollen too, she must've got into a fight. This was so much easier than I originally thought. My watch vibrates and I lift it to my face. "Did you find her," the Professor spits into the lens as she slurps her ramen noodles obnoxiously.

"Yes Professor."

"Did you smooth talk her into coming with you?"

"She's out cold."

"Jesus, smooth talking her didn't go so nicely did it?"

"I found her like this."

"What luck huh?"

"Yes." Still why do I always end up finding her in terrible states like this? I'm going to keep your promise Luke, but you're not going to like how I do it.

* * *

I don't want keep sleeping, the throbbing in my head is getting too much to handle. I bring my knees to my chest and hug them, opening my eyes gradually. The void has disappeared and is replaced with metal walls and-metallic walls and a high ceiling. This isn't the park at all! I turn around to the bars and cautiously wobble towards until I stumble onto them. Prison bars, they're prison bars!

J.G.P.

**And there we go, there's the end of that, poor kids. I forgot to mention this before but if you haven't read the updated Mia's Story, you're gonna be all "Da fuq is a kélora fruit" and "wtf is she talking about when Seth brings up stench of Moonlight Town" so I strongly suggest you go back and read it to understand this, that'll be all.**


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